Oven wall and panel therefor

ABSTRACT

An oven or furnace assembly formed of a plurality of contiguous panels assembled to each other. Each panel is formed of spaced inner and outer walls having resilient tangs at the wall ends. The tangs of the contiguous panels overlap each other and apply resilient pressure against each other to retain the panels in assembled relation while allowing the walls to breathe. The tangs are formed at the ends of wall extensions of the inner and outer walls that have loops that receive legs of flanges that extend between the walls. Channels, extending between the walls, are secured to the walls by spot welds, each channel being secured to its associated inner wall by a single spot weld located centrally of the wall and being secured to its associated outer wall by a plurality of spot welds to provide a stronger securement of the channels to the outer walls than to the inner walls. A batt of compressible insulation is located in the interior of each panel. The panels are assembled by first assembling the flanges to a first of the walls, then inserting the batt of insulation between the flanges, then hooking the loops of the second of the walls onto flange legs, then inserting the channels in place, and then spot welding the channels to the walls.

United States Patet [1 1 [111 Jhfifld Gerhardt [45] W 16, 1973 OVEN WALLAND PANEL THEREFOR [76] Inventor: Jacob M. Gerhardt, l 14 lngleside [57]ABSTRACT Avenue, Marietta, Ohio An oven or furnace assembly formed of aplurality of [22] Filed; 8, 1972 contiguous panels assembled to eachother. Each 3 panel is formed of spaced inner and outer walls having PP224,496 resilient tangs at the wall ends. The tangs of the contiguouspanels overlap each other and apply resilient 52 us. Cl 52/98, 52/573,52/582, Pressure against each other to retain the Phhels in 52/593sembled relation while allowing the walls to breathe. [51] Int Cl. E04)1/00, E04b 1/68, E04,: 1/10 The tangs are formed at the ends of wallextensions of [58] Field of Search 52/593, 595, 619, the inner and Outerwalls that have loops that receive 52/ 20 2 5 9 99 5 2 573 9 593 legs Offlanges that extend between the walls. Channels, extending between thewalls, are secured to the [56] References Cited walls by spot welds,each channel being secured to its UNITED STATES PATENTS associated innerwall by a single spot weld located centrally of the wall and beingsecured to its associl,83l,28l ll/l93l Young 52/578 d outer n aplurality f p welds to provide g s a stronger securement of the channelsto the outer 1 4/1952 'j 52/624 walls than to the inner walls. A batt ofcompressible 3:3l5429 4/1967 swansonm; 52/588 7 insulation is located inthe interior of each panel. The 3,367,076 2/1968 OBrien 52/620 panelsare assembled by first assembling the flanges to 3,372,520 3/1968 Hensel52/620 21 first of th walls, then inserting the ham of insulationbetween the flanges, then hooking the loops of the FOREIGN PATENT S ORAPPLICATIONS second of the walls onto flange legs, then inserting thechannels in place, and then spot welding the channels PrimaryExaminer-Henry C. Sutherland Attorney-D. Paul Weaver et al.

to the walls.

10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEI] BUT I 81975 SHEEY 2 0F 2 ,4 50FIG. 5

FIG. 8

OVEN WALL AND PANEL THEREFOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION such a manneras to not rupture, crack or buckle the panel and to not deleteriouslyaffect the assemblage of the panels.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A first aspect of this invention is concernedwith the construction of a heating mechanism assembly that provides fora ready assemblage of the panelsand enables the breathing of at leastthe inner wall to take place without distorting or buckling the wallwhile maintaining a tight assemblage of the panels. The assembly isformed of contiguous panels having the spaced outer and inner walls. Thebody portions of the inner and outer walls on the contiguous panels arecoplanar and identical resilient extensions extend from the bodyportions that form tangs. The tangs of the contiguous walls overlapeachother and lie in planes that are parallel to the planes of the walls.The walls are thus retained in assembled relation by the resilientpressure of the tangs against each other and may breathe due to thetangs sliding with respect to each other in their planes.

A second aspect of this invention is concerned with the construction ofan individual panel that permits the breathing to take place and enablesthe walls to be assembled to each other by means of flanges that extendbetween the walls and hold insulation in place between the walls. Theresilient extensions are formed of outer loops and inner loops, thetangs being located as continuations of the inner loops. The flangeshave legs that are inserted into the outer loops to thereby assemble theinner and outer walls.

The inner and outer walls have channels extending therebetween andsecured thereto that also hold the walls in assembled relation and holdthe insulation in the other flange so that its flange leg can enter theloop on the other end of the other wall.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is an isometric view of a panel;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a panel;

FIG. 3 is a plan view taken on the line 33 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an assembly of a pair of contiguous panels;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a pair of panels that are assembled to eachother by connector strips located between the panels;

FIG. 7 is a section of a panel showing it at an early stage in itsassemblage; and

FIG. 8 is a section of the panel showing it at a later stage in itsassemblage.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIGS. 1-41, eachpanel 10 comprises an inner wall I2 and an outer wall 14, the walls 12,14 being spaced from each other and being made of resilient materialsuch as steel. The side ends of the walls 12, Here formed into resilientextensions I6 that extend laterally from planar body portions of thewalls. Each extension 16 is formed of an outer loop 18 that extendsoutwardly of its associated wall and then bends inwardly of the paneland towards its associated wall end and an inner loop 20 that is acontinuation of the outer loop and bends further inwardly of the paneland then extends away from its associated wall end to form a resilienttang 21. Substantially U-shaped side flanges or channel members 22 arelocated between the corresponding side ends of the walls 12, 14 by meansof legs 24 that are positioned within the outer loops I8.

Inwardly of the side flanges or channel members 22, the tops and bottomsof the walls 12, 14 are bridged by U-shapecl channels 26. Each channel26 has an outer leg 28 that is secured to its associated outer wall 114by a plurality of spot welds 30 (therein illustrated as three spotwelds) and an inner leg 32 that is secured to its asplace. A thirdaspect of this invention relates to the sethe panels to a location wherethe panels are assembled to each other to erect the heating mechanism,but may rupture when the heating mechanism is erected to furtherfacilitate breathing of the inner walls.

A fourth aspect of the invention is concerned with a method ofassembling the panels. This is accomplished by supporting a first one ofthe walls, then assembling flanges to the first wall, then booking aloop on one end of the other wall onto a flange leg, then moving theother flange inwardly so that its flange leg clears a loop on the otherend of the other wall, and then releasing sociated inner wall 12 by asingle spot weld 34 located centrally-of the inner leg 32 and the innerwall 12. Protuberances in the form of embossments 35 (FIGS. 2

and 5) extend inwardly of the side flanges or channel members 22 so asto be contiguous to and inward of an end of a channel 26.

I-leat insulative batting 36 is located in the cavity fonned by theinner wall 12, the outer wall 14, the side flanges 22, and the channels26.

After being manufactured, in the manner described below, the panels aretransported to a site where a heating mechanism, such as an oven or afurnace, is to be erected and are assembled to each other to form theheating mechanism.

In assembling the-heating mechanism, the bottoms of the panels 10 areplaced in tracks 37 (FIG. 4) so that they stand upwardly thereof andadjacent side ends of the panels are secured to each other by forcingtheir resilient tangs 21 against each other as indicated in FIG. 5 sothat the tangs overlap and retain the panels in place by virtue of theresilient forces they apply against each other, with the tangs lying inplanes parallel to the planes of the body portions of the walls 12, M.

Where adjacent panels 10 are erected so that they are not coplanar, theyare connected by connecting strips, FIG. 6 illustrating one sucharrangement. This figure shows a corner of a heating mechanism whereadjacent panels 10 lie in planes that are at right angles to each other.The inside panel walls 12 are connected by a connector strip 38 and theoutside panel walls 14 are connected by a connector strip 40. The endsof the strips 38 and 40 are formed into extensions 42 constructedsimilarly to the extensions 16, the extensions 42 having tangs 44 thatcoact with the tangs 21 to secure the strips 38 and 40 to the panels 10in the manner described above.

After the panels have been assembled to each other, insulative battingis inserted into the cavities 46 (FIG. formed between contiguous panelsand into the cavities 48 (FIG. 6) formed between the connector strips38, 40 and their contiguous panels 10. After this, the roof of theheating mechanism is mounted to the panels 10 in any desired manner andthe conventional conveyor belts and motor shafts are caused to extendthrough the panels in any desired manner. Other accessories, such as adoor for the heating mechanism, are formed in the heating mechanism inany desired fashion.

Among the heating mechanisms that can be fabricated in the abovedescribed manner are paint drying ovens and metal heat treating ovens.In such heating mechanisms, the inner walls 12 are raised to aconsiderably higher temperature than the outer walls 14 resulting inexpansion and contraction of the inner walls 12 as they heat and cool.It is desirable that this expansion and contraction, which is also knownas breathing, take place without the inner walls distorting or bucklingas such distortion or buckling has the deleterious effect of misaligningthe inner walls with members, such as conveyor belts or motor shafts,that extend through the walls and also may cause the inner walls torupture or crack. Since the inner walls 12 are bridged to each other bythe resilient tangs 21, their expansion or contraction is accommodatedby planar movement of the body portions of the inner walls with thetangs in adjacent walls sliding with respect to each other in theirplanes which are parallel to the planes of the inner wall body portions.It is particularly advantageous, in assembling the heating mechanismthat the tangs 21 are integral with the walls l2, l4, and that thetangs, together with the rest of the extensions 16, are identicallyconstructed to thereby simplify the task of assembling the panels 10 toeach other. Due to the fact that the legs 24 of the side flanges orchannel members 22 are positioned within the outer loops [8, the sideflanges or channel members 22 do not impede the aforementioned breathingof the inner walls 12.

As mentioned above, the channels 26 are secured to the inner walls 12 bya single centrally located spot weld 34 so that the securement of thechannels to the inner wall does not impede the planar breathing of theinner walls. The spot welds 34 are applied primarily to hold the panels10 together during shipment and are unnecessary after the heatingmechanism has been assembled since the spot welds 30 securing the outerwalls 14 to the channels 26 are adequate to hold the channels in placein the assembled heating mechanism. Therefore, once the heatingmechanism has been assembled, the relatively weak connections betweenthe channels 26 and the inner walls 12, formed by the single spot welds34, may rupture to enhance the planar breathing of the body portions ofthe inner walls without adversely affecting the construction of theassembled heating mechanism. The flanges 22 are retained in assembledrelation in the panels by means of the positioning of the legs 24 in theouter loops l8 and by the embossments 35 that can bear against thechannels 26 so as to limit their movements lengthwise of the outerloops.

In assembling a panel 10, and referring to FIG. 7, a wall which can beeither the wall 12 or 14, but in FIG. 7 is illustrated as being the wall12, is layed down on a support or table 50 so that the extensions 16extend upwardly of the table. The flanges or channel members 22 are thenassembled to the wall 12 by inserting a flange leg 24 into each of theouter loops 18 of the wall 12 so that the flanges are upright. This isfollowed by the insertion of a batt of insulation 36 onto the wall 12between the flanges 22 to bring the parts to the position shown in FIG.7.

After this, and referring to FIG. 8, the wall 14 is hooked onto one ofthe uppermost flange legs 24 (illustrated in FIG. 8 as the left flangeleg) by looping its left outer loop 18 onto the left flange leg 24. Anappropriate tool then bends the right flange 22 inwardly about itsconnection with its lower flange leg 24 so that its upper flange leg 24moves inwardly a sufficient distance to clear the right outer loop 18 ofthe wall 14, the batt 36 compressing during this inward movement of theflange or channel member 22. The wall 14 and the right outer loop 18 arethen lowered to bring the right outer loop 18 into alignment with theupper flange leg 24 of the right flange or channel member 22, and theright flange or channel member 22 is released from the tool to springback into an upright position with its upper flange leg 24 located inthe right outer loop 18 of the wall 14.

The assemblage of the walls 12 and 14, the flanges or channel members 22and the batting 36 are now removed from the table 50 and the channels 26are inserted in place between the walls 12, 14 and the flanges orchannel members 22 and are spot welded to the walls 12, 14 to form thespot weld connections 30 and 34.

I claim:

1. In a heating mechanism assembly formed of at least a pair ofcontiguous panels, each panel being formed of an outer wall and asubstantially planar inner wall spaced from its associated outer wall,the inner and outer walls being respectively assembled to each other ina substantially coplanar relationship; the improvement wherein the meansfor assembling the adjacent coplanar inner walls to each other and theadjacent coplanar outer walls to each other comprises:

substantially identical resilient extensions formed on adajcent ends ofthe inner walls, each of said extensions on said inner walls extendingoutwardly of its associated inner wall body portion and then being bentinwardly of the panel toward its associated inner wall body portion toform an outer loop, and then being bent outwardly of the panel away fromits associated inner wall body portion to form an inner loop, andcontinuing beyond the outer loop to form a tang that lies in a planesubstantially parallel to the plane of the body portions of the innerwalls;

substantially identical resilient extensions formed on adjacent ends ofthe outer walls, each of said extensions on said outer walls extendingoutwardly of its associated outer wall body portion and then being bentinwardly of the panel toward its associated outer wall body portion toform an outer loop, and then being bent outwardly of the panel away fromits associated outer wall body portion to form an inner loop, andcontinuing beyond the outer loop to form a tang that lies in a planesubstantially parallel to the plane of the body portions of the outerwalls, said tangs on said extensions of said inner and outer walls ofone of said panels being resiliently and slidably received in theassociated inner loops formed on the extensions of the inner and outerwalls of a contiguous panel to hold said panels in assembled relationand permit movement therebetween;

a pair of spaced vertically extending channel members disposed betweenthe associated ends of the inner and outer walls of each panel, each ofsaid channel members having a pair of outwardly extending legs that areslidably received in the associated outer loops formed on saidassociated extensions of the inner and outer walls of each panel;

a pair of spaced horizontally extending channel members bridging the topand the bottom of the associated inner and outer walls of each panel;and

means securing said horizontally extending channel members to said innerand outer walls, said means providing a stronger securement of saidhorizontally extending channel members to its associated outer wall thanto its associated inner wall, whereby said inner wall may expand andcontract without distorting said panel.

2. The assembly of claim ll wherein said securement means comprises spotwelds.

3. The assembly of claim 5 wherein said securement comprises a spot welddesigned to rupture when said panels are subjected to heat during usage.

4. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising: a pro tuberance extendinginwardly of each of said vertically disposed channel members inwardly ofand contiguously to each of its associated horizontally disposed channelmembers to thereby limit the movements of the horizontally disposedchannel members.

5. The assembly of claim 1 wherein the securement of each of saidhorizontally disposed channel members to its associated inner wall islocated centrally of the inner wall.

6. A panel, for use as part of a heating mechanism, comprising:

an inner wall having a substantially planar body and having top, bottomand side edges;

an outer wall having a substantially planar body, parallel to and spacedfrom said inner wall, and having top, bottom and side edges;

a pair of vertically disposed channel members extending between theassociated side edges of said inner and outer walls, each of saidchannel mem bers having a pair of outwardly extending legs;

a resilient extension on each side edge of the inner wall that extendsoutwardly of its associated inner wall and then bends inwardly of thepanel towards its associated inner wall to form an outer loop and thenextends outwardly of its associated inner wall to form an inner loop andthen extends outwardly of its associated inner wall;

an inner tang integrally formed on each of said last named outwardlyextending portions;

a resilient extension on each side edge of the outer wall that extendsoutwardly of its associated outer wall and then bends inwardly of thepanel toward its associated outer wall to form an outer loop and thenextends outwardly of its associated outer wall to form an inner loop andthen extends outwardly of its associated outer wall;

an outer tang integrally formed on each of said last named outwardlyextending portions;

said legs of said channel members being slidably disposed in said outerloops of said extensions of said inner and said outer walls;

a pair of horizontally disposed channel members bridging the top andbottom of the inner and outer walls; and

means securing said horizontally disposed channel members to said innerand outer walls, said means providing a stronger securement of saidhorizontally extending channel members to its associated outer wall thanto its associated inner wall;

each of said inner and outer tangs being adapted to overlap a similartang on a contiguous panel with the overlying tangs lying in planessubstantially parmeans comprises spot welds.

8. The assembly of claim 10 wherein said securement comprises a spotweld designed to rupture when said panels are subjected to heat duringusage.

9. The panel of claim 6 further comprising: a protuberance extendinginwardly of each of said vertically disposed channel members inwardly ofand contiguous to each of its associated horizontally disposed channelmembers to thereby limit the movement of the horizontallydisposedchannel members.

10. The panel of claim 6 wherein the securement of each of saidhorizontally disposed channel members to its associated inner wall islocated centrally of the inner wall.

1. In a heating mechanism assembly formed of at least a pair ofcontiguous panels, each panel being formed of an outer wall and asubstantially planar inner wall spaced from its associated outer wall,the inner and outer walls being respectively assembled to each other ina substantially coplanar relationship; the improvement wherein the meansfor assembling the adjacent coplanar inner walls to each other and theadjacent coplanar outer walls to each other comprises: substantiallyidentical resilient extensions formed on adjacent ends of the innerwalls, each of said extensions on said inner walls extending outwardlyof its associated inner wall body portion and then being bent inwardlyof the panel toward its associated inner wall body portion to form anouter loop, and then being bent outwardly of the panel away from itsassociated inner wall body portion to form an inner loop, and continuingbeyond the outer loop to form a tang that lies in a plane substantiallyparallel to the plane of the body portions of the inner walls;substantially identical resilient extensions formed on adjacent ends ofthe outer walls, each of said extensions on said outer walls extendingoutwardly of its associated outer wall body portion and then being bentinwardly of the panel toward its associated outer wall body portion toform an outer loop, and then being bent outwardly of the panel away fromits associated outer wall body portion to form an inner loop, andcontinuing beyond the outer loop to form a tang that lies in a planesubstantially parallel to the plane of the body portions of the outerwalls, said tangs on said extensions of said inner and outer walls ofone of said panels being resiliently and slidably received in theassociated inner loops formed on the Extensions of the inner and outerwalls of a contiguous panel to hold said panels in assembled relationand permit movement therebetween; a pair of spaced vertically extendingchannel members disposed between the associated ends of the inner andouter walls of each panel, each of said channel members having a pair ofoutwardly extending legs that are slidably received in the associatedouter loops formed on said associated extensions of the inner and outerwalls of each panel; a pair of spaced horizontally extending channelmembers bridging the top and the bottom of the associated inner andouter walls of each panel; and means securing said horizontallyextending channel members to said inner and outer walls, said meansproviding a stronger securement of said horizontally extending channelmembers to its associated outer wall than to its associated inner wall,whereby said inner wall may expand and contract without distorting saidpanel.
 2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein said securement meanscomprises spot welds.
 3. The assembly of claim 5 wherein said securementcomprises a spot weld designed to rupture when said panels are subjectedto heat during usage.
 4. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising: aprotuberance extending inwardly of each of said vertically disposedchannel members inwardly of and contiguously to each of its associatedhorizontally disposed channel members to thereby limit the movements ofthe horizontally disposed channel members.
 5. The assembly of claim 1wherein the securement of each of said horizontally disposed channelmembers to its associated inner wall is located centrally of the innerwall.
 6. A panel, for use as part of a heating mechanism, comprising: aninner wall having a substantially planar body and having top, bottom andside edges; an outer wall having a substantially planar body, parallelto and spaced from said inner wall, and having top, bottom and sideedges; a pair of vertically disposed channel members extending betweenthe associated side edges of said inner and outer walls, each of saidchannel members having a pair of outwardly extending legs; a resilientextension on each side edge of the inner wall that extends outwardly ofits associated inner wall and then bends inwardly of the panel towardsits associated inner wall to form an outer loop and then extendsoutwardly of its associated inner wall to form an inner loop and thenextends outwardly of its associated inner wall; an inner tang integrallyformed on each of said last named outwardly extending portions; aresilient extension on each side edge of the outer wall that extendsoutwardly of its associated outer wall and then bends inwardly of thepanel toward its associated outer wall to form an outer loop and thenextends outwardly of its associated outer wall to form an inner loop andthen extends outwardly of its associated outer wall; an outer tangintegrally formed on each of said last named outwardly extendingportions; said legs of said channel members being slidably disposed insaid outer loops of said extensions of said inner and said outer walls;a pair of horizontally disposed channel members bridging the top andbottom of the inner and outer walls; and means securing saidhorizontally disposed channel members to said inner and outer walls,said means providing a stronger securement of said horizontallyextending channel members to its associated outer wall than to itsassociated inner wall; each of said inner and outer tangs being adaptedto overlap a similar tang on a contiguous panel with the overlying tangslying in planes substantially parallel to the plane of said panel, thusenabling the inner and outer walls of the contiguous panels to beretained in assembled relation by way of resilient pressure of the tangsagainst each other and enabling the inner walls to breathe by way of theinner tangs sliding with respect to each other in their planes.
 7. TheassembLy of claim 6 wherein said securement means comprises spot welds.8. The assembly of claim 10 wherein said securement comprises a spotweld designed to rupture when said panels are subjected to heat duringusage.
 9. The panel of claim 6 further comprising: a protuberanceextending inwardly of each of said vertically disposed channel membersinwardly of and contiguous to each of its associated horizontallydisposed channel members to thereby limit the movement of thehorizontally disposed channel members.
 10. The panel of claim 6 whereinthe securement of each of said horizontally disposed channel members toits associated inner wall is located centrally of the inner wall.